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Grown Ups?

It was at a work party just before Christmas last year when a girl I know was telling me about how had just bought an apartment – her first home.
All of a sudden buying a house seemed a lot less terrifying. I mean, buying an apartment seemed a lot less terrifying.

It also made sense, economically, we’d pay a wee bit more in mortgage than in rent but we’d be able to pay off a debt which in turn would allow us to save more on a monthly basis than we had been. So if we do decide to go travelling again, to move overseas, there’ll be some money with which to buy flights and, you know, live on.

Just like that Craig and I spent the next few months heading from open home to open home.
Last week we went unconditional on a wee art-deco flat in Wellington. If everything goes to plan the settlement date is less than two weeks away and just a couple of days after that? Craig and I will be living in our own (gulp) home.

Don’t worry. There are still no babies on the horizon. Fingers crossed.

Tags: House

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Here is something I bought, Irrational Fear, Where we live

A few of my favourite things: Devon Anna Smith

10 Oct

I just had to share this with you.

One of my all-time favourite artists, Devon Anna Smith, did a run of temporary tattoos. I just broke into my pack to use the first. I chose the cat-face. It’s such fun.

It is becoming awkward, this obsession of mine, as Devon is a lovely lovely girl who I’ve managed to stalk on both twitter and instagram and almost in real life as well. I feel like the biggest dork. But, I mean, just look at her art. How can I not be obsessed?

I mean really!

I think I might make this one permanent.

Devon Anna Smith: etsy

Tags: art, cat, devon anna smith, new zealand, tattoo

Comments 1 Comment
Categories Adoration Abounds, Art, Here is something I bought, Tattooed Lady

Thoughts become things

21 Jan

It feels like a million but it was only two years and nine months ago that I posted my 2009 birthday wish list. I came across this by accident and I realised something surprising.

I was hoping for:

This beautiful copy of The Bell Jar, Protea charm & Protea ring by Meadowlark, Cupcakes (!), Peonies, the permission for Craig and I to live in the UK for as long as we like, beautiful underwear, a Kodak Duaflex vintage camera, St Paul’s Cathedral back in my life, a traditional peony tattoo, a black retro-style scooter, Chloe Sevigny for Open Ceremony Wedges, Meadowlark pyramid stud bangles, a Marc by Marc Jacobs bag in a berry berry hue.

And two years, nine months later? honest to anything, it would be easier to list the items I do not have.
I do not own that copy of The Bell Jar, I do not have a black retro-style scooter, my Chloe Sevigny for Open Ceremony Wedges are Jeffrey Campbell knock-offs but besides that?
The permission to live in the UK was really just the best.

I was surprised. I am a fortunate fortunate person.

It was nice to remember that.

(It hasn’t been two years nine months of presents, it has been two years, nine months of working hard and saving harder. And a couple of presents)

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Categories Addicted to Lists, Here is something I bought

Oh Meadowlark, You’re KILLING me

12 Oct

When the inimitable Gala Darling asked what websites for New Zealand Jewellery there was only one answer I could give

There’s really only one, always and forever, my favourite is Meadowlark.
(Although Karen Walker jewels are fab too)

This weekend, the DAY BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY, Meadowlark made their latest collection available for pre-order. I died just a little as I flicked through it and DID NOT ORDER ANYTHING.

I did however add a few things to my wishlist.

(click to enlarge)

Bone Bow cocktail ring.
But I have not decided if I would prefer rose or smoky quartz.

Photo from Superette.

Faceted earrings
Faceted and Bone Bow charm bracelets.

But of course, things like dental work and Irish passports and rent, the small things, take precedence. So my every-growing collection of Meadowlark jewels (it’s a bit of a sickness) will have to wait just a little while longer.

I hate being a grown up sometimes.

I own at least one piece from every single collection save for two.
Seriously.

p.s. I believe this goes without saying but this is NOT a sponsored post. The adoration is completely my own.

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Categories Adoration Abounds, Here is something I bought

Talking about what I cannot talk about

18 May

I have said it time and time and time again on this darling little site, I know, but I am going to say it again: I do not talk about my work on my website.
So I’ve been kind of silent lately.
Work has been busy and hard and stressful. But I have been supported by coworkers (former and current), by friends, and by family. By people I barely know on the internet. My support has been less a safety net (full of holes) and more a giant cushion (this is a complicated metaphor and I don’t like it very much. BUT IT STAYS, a half glass of wine has spoken). Which is lovely.

And yesterday I signed a brand new contract for a role I am excited about and which I pretty much helped write. So I’m set for a while. I hope. Unless it all gets weird again. Oh lord.

In summary: it sucked, I cried, people were lovely, I cried, I have a new (but also not-new) job, I didn’t cry.
Wine all around!

Oh and the photo up there? completely and utterly unrelated. It’s just my new necklace.
I stalked this necklace around Wellington. My darling sister told me about one that she loved (cream ceramic bones and gold chain) and I loved the idea (but not the colours. We may both be brown-haired and brown-eyed but I am a winter and she is a … not winter. Autumn? perhaps).
The very next day I saw a girl in a completely different part of the city wearing one. Then the following weekend I saw a girl wearing one with pink bones and silver chain and I was smitten. THE UNIVERSE WANTED ME TO HAVE THIS NECKLACE.

I googled and googled and googled and good LORD but there are a LOT of ceramic bone necklaces in the internet universe.
Twitter told me the designer was a New Zealander called Penny Foggo. I emailed the store and begged them to order one for me. And just last week? the horrible week? it arrived. I love it.

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Categories Here is something I bought, Sometimes I'm Serious

Just another manic Monday

14 Feb

asos black basque wedge heels

Sometimes it’s a Monday & the weather is grey & you didn’t sleep well & everything feels like it’s going just a bit wrong.
Sometimes it’s valentines day & your sweetheart decides to go rockclimbing instead.
Sometimes you leave your damn keys at home.

But then sometimes your valentine walks half an hour out of his way to drop his key off to you, he sends you lyrics to a romantic song*, you have healthy frozen food and wine at home so you don’t have to cook, and you have pretty new shoes.

Then, suddenly life doesn’t seem that annoying after all.

* Not like the time he told you that your song was Whole Lotta Rosie. He did not realise it was about how large this lovely Rosie was. And he was very embarrassed. So naturally, I bring it up a lot. So funny. He’s adorable.

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Categories Here is something I bought, I am a Crazy Person

Week Thirty-Five

29 Aug

Sunday
Mini red velvet cupcakes baked to order for my baby sister’s birthday.

Monday
Beehives beehives everywhere.

Tuesday
I was a little drunk when I ordered this Bone ring from Meadowlark. But sober I still adore it.

Wednesday
The beehive in the Golden dawn.

Thursday
How I’ve been wearing my bone ring – stacked with my deco Zelda Fitzgerald ring.

Friday
No time at work – still – but I was wearing some very cute shoes.

Saturday
I bought chartreuse underwear!
Craig was not pleased. He does not approve of my adoration of this colour.

I discovered a pencil in my hair 5 hours after I last used it.

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Categories 365 in 2010, Here is something I bought

The search for a good bag & what I carry in mine

9 Aug

I know three separate people who are searching for their perfect bag. They are in agony. An agony of so close yet so far that I’ve spent the last year in the midst of.

It may surprise you to know that I am decidedly picky about certain things. I know, I know, it’s a shock. But bear with me.
A handbag is one of those things that has to be just right. The freaking goldilocks of the accessory world. I use one every single day, and I really really don’t like switching from bag to bag as the day or outfit requires.
So I really SHOULD love it. Shouldn’t I? This DESERVES picky.

Admittedly, I only have two prerequisites for a bag.
It has to be leather (sorry vegetarians) because I like my bags to last without cracking, and to age like wine (I hear it gets better, but I’ve never made any last). And! It has to hold my darling DSLR comfortably. I still carry my camera every where I go, and have downsized the amount I carry on a day to day basis to accommodate this. I love it. My camera.

The Goldilocks requirements are as follows:
Interesting, but classic. NOT BLACK but a colour equally versatile. Silver hardware. A comfortable strap. An interesting interior.
Oh and it seems that it has to be Marc by Marc Jacobs. But that’s just a coincidence.

And so, because this is the kind of thing that I’m interested in reading, here are the bags with which I carried my life while I waited on my goldilocks bag.

For the last year-and-a-bit I’ve been carrying on and off a Guess bag which changed my life (err … kind of) because it was the first bag that would hold my DSLR and my essentials without being the size of a small universe.

But the strap is beginning to crack, and the silver hardware beginning to tarnish, and, frankly, the Guess brand is beginning to bug me.

For my 26th birthday Craig bought me my first (grown up) Marc by Marc Jacobs bag.
I love it. The colour is amazing but it is kind of hard to wear everyday. And the beautiful patent on the leather has started to crack. Sigh.

I took it to a cobbler and asked if they could remove the patent, or protect it. Their answer was a big fat NO. So I am embracing the cracked-patent look, but I find that hard to do on a day to day basis.

I bought my next Marc by Marc Jacobs bag. Trawled ebay and bought it second hand.
I love the busy busy pattern and the monochrome colour scheme makes it much easier to wear. Unfortunately it’s very slouchy which seemed to hurt my camera. NOT worth it. I love my camera too much.

As a rash purchase on a horrible horrible day bought this bag by United Colours of Benetton. At the time I thought it was adorable, and that the stiff leather would soften with use, and the price was just right.
It turned out to be made out of fake leather, not real, which meant there was no chance of it softening up. Stupid stiff plastic bag.

I’m tired. It is tiring running through all these failed bags. And depressing. I was SO HOPEFUL, and then so disappointed with each one.

Next was a bag by Diesel which was made out of the softest lambskin. It was amazing.
But complicated. Three strange overly large pockts and annoying straps so the configuration of the bag could be changed around. And it was slouchy. Too slouchy. Damn.

Then, in a fit of christ I don’t know where else to look I tried shopbop.com and came across the Marc by Marc Jacobs Classic Q in Pewter.

Real leather? check.
DSLR-friendly? check.
Interesting, but classic? check.
NOT BLACK but a colour equally versatile? check*.
Silver hardware. A comfortable strap. An interesting interior? check check and check!

Marc by Marc Jacobs? err … check.

The only thing. The ONLY thing is that the strap is very long. It’s a messenger style bag. Which I have never had much luck with.
But I seem to love this one!

And if I do get sick of it, I suppose I can always have the strap shortened. I guess, for some people, the search is never really over. But for me, for now, it is.

What’s in my bag …

x Apple iPhone 3GS.
x Blackberry Curve – my work phone.
x Black Guess Wallet with a Hello Kitty ‘phone’ charm from Hiroshima
x Keys on a Harrods key chain – the heart opens to reveal a mirror on one side, and a picture of Sir C & Me on the other.
x 1 lipstick. At the moment it’s Girl About Town by MAC
x A cigarette case which is the perfect size to hold some of my photography cards, a hair tie and some bobby pins, miscellaneous jewellery (this time it’s my KW skull necklace), and a pack of chewing gum.

* I also love that in some lights the Pewter shade looks very silver, in others very grey, and in others a strange green colour!

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Categories Here is something I bought, What's In My Bag

Week Thirty

25 Jul

Sunday
I spent the day watching old episodes of True Blood and occasionally eating crackers with Gherkins and Cream Cheese.

Monday
A coworker bought me coffee from Timor-Leste.
Apparently the make really good coffee there – I haven’t tried it yet.

Tuesday
Wearing Dim Sum Plum by OPI and it matches my Marc by Marc Jacobs bag.

Wednesday
I saw the All Whites parade. The applause was genuine & made me tear up just a little bit.

Thursday
I baked celebratory (woo, new job) cupcakes.

Friday
I was exhausted and the weather was horrible. Perfect for hibernation, and for soup.

Saturday
I got 16 items ready to take to The Big Shwop*.

* The Big Shwop was a big disappointment. They said they would only accept quality items and well … they seemed to be much less discerning than I. I saw them accept a pair of Pulp (the Glassons of Shoes) shoes that used to be white but were extremely well worn.
I brought 16 items, had 15 accepted, and came away with only 4 items. A pair of MNG jeans, a black and white striped cardigan, a generic black wool top, and a Jacket that turned out to be much too big.
People are manic. They were grabbing armfuls of clothing and trying them on around the edges of the room, thereby getting around the “5 items in the changing room” rule, and meaning that the things they were trying on and rejecting were left behind and the racks weren’t getting restocked.
I guess I would go again (I have 7 re-shwop stamps after all) but I would definitely bring my Tier 2 cast-offs and not my Tier 1.

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Categories 365 in 2010, Here is something I bought

The Big Shwop*

19 Jul

See, here’s the thing:
In the last two years I’ve lost a bit of weight. Quite a bit. About 20 kilos kind of a bit.
I’ve dropped … a few dress sizes**. Which in turn means I have a wardrobe – and boxes in my “office” – full of clothes which are really quite nice, barely worn, and just too damn big for me now.

I’ve been trying to psych myself up to sell them on TradeMe but it is just so much work for not-very-much of a payout.
Why sell a dress for the price of a cup of coffee or two, when you can exchange it for … a shirt! Or maybe another dress!

Enter: The Big Shwop

Sunday July 25
Venue: The St James Theatre, Courtenay Place, Wellington
Time: 10 am – 2.30 pm
Tickets: $20 from their website: http://www.thebigshwop.co.nz, or just turn up on the day
R 18 event as alcohol (woo!) is being served
Bring up to 20 items of clothing. Shwop.

You bring along 20 of your best quality no-longer-wanted items of clothing/shoes/handbags and exchange them for vouchers which you then get to use to “buy” items brought along by other Shwoppers!

Don’t bother bringing items that, should your taste be different, you still wouldn’t wear. Nothing ripped or stained or worn-beyond-recognition. The shwop is for good quality clothing. No Supré here***.

The only catch is, perhaps, that you don’t get your clothing back if it doesn’t make the cut, and you likewise get nothing if you don’t use all your vouchers. All clothing which doesn’t make the cut or is leftover at the end of the day is donated to charity.

It sounds marvellous. Even if I only come away with one or two items for my $20-and-donated-clothing, I’m looking forward to spending the day with a couple of my favourite ladies, free wine, and Trilogy goodies.

You should come along too!

* Yes the spelling bugs me. But I’m rising above.
** I’m now wearing a size I last wore when I was 18 and depressed and Craig lived in Auckland and I barely ate. Only this time, I eat. In fact I just finished a chocolate bar. But in general, eating better food, and less of it (I no longer let Craig serve me) teamed with more exercise is how I’ve done it. Boring, I know.
*** I’m already planning what I’m going to bring. A Karen Millen top and jacket, a bright fuchsia coat from H&M, a fancy frock from Portmans, a bag by United Colours of Benetton, all things which are still wonderful but no longer Me.